(really sorry it took me this long to write this up. The next one will be more timely)
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| Polish Cavalry by Roelant Savery |
Maciej’s horse nickered, suddenly unsteady. The
cossack-style cavalaryman turned his head and saw a range of white banners with
dark eagles matching those of the small troop of reiters they were pursuing to
their left flank and rear. The Prussians had laid an ambush and that foolhardy
colonel of theirs had walked right into it!
As Prussian horns sounded and charges began, chaos and panic
ensued…
As discussed in the prior post, Kato’s Brandenburgers have taken my Commonwealth force
unawares, giving the weaker Prussian force a chance to inflict maximum
casualties on the stronger Poles.
The Polish force deployed as well as it could, with the
Tatars screening the north with some Cossack-style cavalry, while their large
Pancerni squadron covered the west, and dragoons covered the south and east.
The small elite Pancerni with spears set their backs to the swamp in the
south-east, ready to respond to a breakthrough and defend the Colonel.
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| Polish command seen from the east |
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| Polish deployment from the south |
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| From the east, again, with a better view |
Seeing this, the Prussians placed a large musketeer squadron
in the farm to the west opposite the Pancerni, with their two reiter squadrons
to the south, ready to pounce on the dragoons, who would be firing at reduced
efficacy in turn one as they scrambled to light their matchlocks.
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| All deployed from the south |
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| and from the east |
Then the battle began, and the panic effects provided by the
scenario + Kato’s numerical disadvantage set in, causing my Tatars to
withdraw into the nearby Cossack-style (who passed their test to not become
disordered themselves); more importantly, the large Pancerni squadron panicked,
withdrawing into the middle of my deployment zone and opening a large gap for
the musketeers and reiters to exploit in the west.
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| Panic and chaos (note the large block of reiters in the southwest retreating |
Turn One
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| Turn one action |
The abruptness with which the Polish blundered into the
ambush left the Prussians somewhat unprepared, and the multiple panics
generated chaos in their lines (reconnaissance effect selected due to my
advantage in recon points). In an unfortunate turn of events, the large militia
reiter squadron had to take a morale test or become disorganized and withdraw!
Alas, even with three(!) command points from the Prussian lieutenant colonel,
they failed their morale test. This was a huge problem for the Brandenburgers,
as their other Reiter unit had been preparing a caracole to soften up the
southern dragoons and were not in position to take advantage of the gap in the
polish lines caused by the pancerni’s withdrawal.
The rest of turn one saw the elite Pancerni begin a long
charge toward the musketeers (which they were skillful enough to retain), whose
fire was somewhat effective (minimal damage). The Cossack-style squadron began
to move after the baiting reiters, also flanking the musketeers.
The southern reiters’ caracole was ineffective, as was the tiny amount of return fire from
the dragoons.
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| Caracole in the south |
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| Pancerni with spears maintaining their charge |
Turn 2
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| The situation to start turn 2 |
As turn 2 began, the Prussians attempted to reorganize
their large reiter block, but failed, again keeping their main strike unit out
of the battle. The neighboring smaller reiter squadron picked up a charge order
to head into the southern dragoons.
On
my western flank, the elite pancerni continued into the musketeers, and the
Cossack-style in the north began a charge on the musketeers as well, using an
extra command point to ignore the small reiter bait unit.
The large pancerni unit failed to reorganize,
keeping the window open for the Prussians to catch a large number of Polish
cavalry before they’re ready.
In the south, the reiters broke through the dragoons after 2
combat rounds, preparing to charge the disorganized pancerni.
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| Charge! And after the defensive fire in the west |
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| LOUD NOISES |
In the west, the musketeer defensive fire drove back the
elite pancerni, but the charge from the cossack-style pushed them back off the
wall into the field. This actually kept the cavalry from reaching them for the
2
nd round of combat, so as long as they could reorganize, they’d be
prepared to defend against another attack.
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| The musket-fire was too much for the elite riders |
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| But the musketeers could not also stave off the cossack-style |
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| This is a mess. Let's hope those pancerni rally before the reiters arrive! |
Turn 3
The militia reiters failed to reorganize AGAIN (ugh), while
the southern reiter unit charged into the now-reorganized and countercharging
pancerni. This would prove to be a decisive clash, as this was the Prussians’
last, best chance to pressure my commander and steal a win.
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| Lots of action this turn |
In the west, the small reiter bait unit charged into the
rear of the Cossack-style, but the musketeers were unable to rally. Their fire
would’ve been hugely helpful to that combat.
In terms of results, the pancerni scored a close win over
the reiters in the south; the reiters totally botched their morale test and
fled, basically securing that flank for the Polish. In the west, not only did
the reiters not succeed in breaking the Cossack-style despite a rear charge,
the Polish then gained a charge order and pursued the retreating Prussian
cavalry.
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| The Prussian regulars have had enough |
That was basically the end of the battle, as although the
big militia reiter block rallied in turn 4, they were far enough out of the
fight as to make it irrelevant.
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| Aftermath |
All in all, it was a tough game for Kato and the Prussians,
as every key role/moment went wrong. He didn’t really do anything wrong/make
any mistakes (except maybe not charging the dragoons with the reiters in the
south turn one, but he was planning on having them support the charge from the
larger militia reiter squadron).
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| Too little, too late |
I think the next game will see a more cavalry-focused
Prussian force coming to keep the pressure on the Polish expeditionary force as
it reorganizes after this ambush…
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